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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28275117">Walking in Twilight</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thuri/pseuds/Thuri'>Thuri</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>A Light in the Dark [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Final Fantasy XV</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pre-Relationship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 22:01:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>11,508</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28275117</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thuri/pseuds/Thuri</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Noctis wakes after his battle with the Hydrean to find out just what his advisor has given up for him.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Noctis Lucis Caelum/Ignis Scientia</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>A Light in the Dark [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2071362</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>61</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Walking in Twilight</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>After playing over two hundred hours in this game this year, Ignis is the badass battle butler who owns my soul, and I wanted something that could focus on him after Altissa, instead of on Noct being sad about Luna. So I wrote this! This and the following piece in the series ended up being my NaNo, so are super rough and probably have typos, but I'm trying to get less perfectionist about my work or I never share it at all. Enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The first time Noct woke after defeating the Hydrean, the impressions of his dream were slow to fade. Not a nightmare, for once. No, this had been...hopeful. Comforting. Luna had been there, whole and in one piece, not bleeding out in the rain. And she had told him...what had she told him?</p><p>He reached for the image of her, smiling at him, reassuring him. “Dear Noctis...you <em>have </em>saved me. If you remember nothing else from these moments, remember this.”</p><p>The memory of her face faded, as he became more aware of the world around him, but her voice and the conviction in it lingered. Could it really have been just a dream? It hadn’t felt like it, hadn’t been the disconnected mess of images and terror his nights had so often been filled with. No...no, it had felt like the actual moments they’d shared together--and those few times he’d been sure they’d shared a dream before.</p><p>Did that mean he’d succeeded? He remembered, very vaguely, feeling Luna gather him in her arms, remembered just barely being able to pull an elixir from the Armiger and press it into her hands. He’d <em>thought </em>he’d heard the familiar breaking of the bottle, but he couldn’t be sure.</p><p>Still, when he reached inside himself for the worry, fear, and sorrow he knew should be there, all he could find was a sense of peace.</p><p>Deciding he would let himself believe in it, at least for now, he felt himself drift off once again.</p><p>***</p><p>The second time Noct woke, he managed to open his eyes. It was dark in the unfamiliar room, and a shadowed figure was slumped in a high backed chair beside the bed. He couldn’t make out any features, but was certain it was Ignis. Ignis, who’d watched over Noct’s every cold, every injury, every bedridden moment for as far back as he could remember.</p><p>Noct smiled, slightly, and turned his head to the other side of the bed--to find Gentiana standing there, her eyes closed and smile serene. “The King awakens.”</p><p>“Yeah, I guess so,” Noct murmured, not sure if she spoke aloud or if her voice was only in his head. Her lips didn’t seem to move, but that didn’t mean much. “Wasn’t sure I was going to.”</p><p>“The King’s retainers shared his doubt.” Gentiana inclined her head to the figure in the chair. “They have stood guard over the King’s rest.”</p><p>Noct allowed himself a small smile. He still wasn’t sure if he really deserved his friends, but knowing they’d watch out for him when he needed it warmed him deeply. “Hope they can give it up soon.”</p><p>“The King will recover his strength,” Gentiana said, with a confidence that Noct was frankly glad to hear, as exhausted and drained as he felt. “The Oracle used all her strength to save him.”</p><p>Her words sent a thrill of fear through him and Noct struggled to push himself up. “Is she safe? I dreamed...I think...I mean...is Luna okay?”</p><p>Gentiana’s soft smile widened, and Noct’s heart squeezed in his chest as she nodded. “She is safe, and hidden from those who would do harm unto her. The King need not worry, though the world thinks her gone.”</p><p>“Thank the Gods,” Noct whispered softly, falling back against his pillows. He might not have wanted to marry Luna, but neither had he wanted her dragged into all this, hadn’t wanted her to be risking her life for him, no matter what he was supposed to be doing. “Tell her...tell her I’m glad, that I’m so grateful to her, that…” He let out a long breath, not sure how to put his thoughts into words. “That…”</p><p>“The Oracle knows the King’s heart,” Gentiana murmured, reaching out to gently run her hand over Umbra’s fur. The dog, pressed against Noct’s leg, wagged his tail softly in response. “If the King writes, the Oracle will do the same.”</p><p>Noct nodded, feeling exhaustion stealing over him again. “Tell her I will. Thank you, Gentiana, for letting me know…” he fought to keep his eyes open.</p><p>“The King must rest, now,” Gentiana said, amusement in her gentle voice. “Rest, and recover, and bring peace to those he loves.”</p><p>And before Noct could ask what she meant, sleep again came for him.</p><p>***</p><p>The third time Noct woke, it was to the sound of gulls, the slap of waves against the canal walls, and soft humming. His mind provided the lyrics even as it struggled towards consciousness. <em>...to ride my chocobo all day… Prompto?</em></p><p>Noct blinked, then blinked again, to find it <em>was</em> Prompto sprawled in the chair beside his bed, his friend’s eyes red-rimmed and tired, his hair even wilder than usual as he stared down at his phone. It wasn’t his haggard appearance that had Noct surprised, though, but his presence. Or, rather, the absence of <em>Ignis’s</em>, who Noct would’ve thought would be the one watching over his sleep.</p><p>
  <em>Unless they actually tricked him into getting some rest...hope so. I would’ve liked to see that.</em>
</p><p>Noct pushed the thought away, working his dry tongue in his mouth. “Pr-Prompto?” he managed, making a face at how rough his voice sounded.</p><p>Prompto jumped like someone had run lightning through him, dropping his phone and doing a double take that under any other circumstances would’ve had Noct laughing his ass off. “Noct! Holy shit, you’re awake!”</p><p>As it was, Noct couldn’t keep from smiling. “Yeah, guess...guess so,” he agreed, wincing as he ran an internal check on himself. He didn’t seem to be injured, but <em>fuck</em> he was feeling the aftereffects of using too much magic. Way, way too much magic, and for way too long--he wasn’t sure he could ever remember feeling this drained.</p><p>Which meant he’d have a hell of a wait building back up his reserves.</p><p>“You guess?” Prompto exploded into motion, pushing himself up from the overly upholstered chair and fumbling to retrieve a glass of water from the bedside table. He handed it over to Noct, who waved him away when he tried to help him sit up. “You scared the shit out of us, dude.”</p><p>“Sorry,” Noct replied, taking a grateful sip of water, then a longer drink, washing away the bitter taste in his mouth. “Wasn’t my idea.”</p><p>“Good thing, ‘cause then I’d have to kick your ass again,” Prompto joked, his eyes narrowing as he looked Noct over in a way that Noct didn’t particularly care for. “You’ve been out for about a day, b-t-dubs, and Gladio’s about to tear the place apart. Also, I think we technically won, but it’s a mess out there. And, uh…” he hesitated, his voice going softer.</p><p>“Luna’s safe,” Noct interrupted, not wanting to hear Prompto try to tell him otherwise. The whole thing was surreal enough. “Gentiana dropped by sometime last night.”</p><p>“Yeah?” Prompto settled on the edge of the bed, taking Noct’s empty cup from him, a grin spreading across his face. “Really, man? That’s good to hear! No one could find her, after, and we thought…”</p><p>“I got the impression that’s what everyone’s supposed to think,” Noct said, tentatively stretching, testing out his arms and legs. He winced, when his back and leg protested, strongly, and eased himself back on his pillows. Shit. “You guys get everyone evacuated okay?”</p><p>“Yeah, yeah, it was a ghost town by the time the Imps moved in,” Prompto said, reaching over to ruffle Umbra’s fur. The dog was still at Noct’s feet, pressed in against his good leg. Noct wasn’t going to question it; if Umbra wanted to keep an eye on him, he was happy to let him. “Good thing, too, they were bombing the hell out of all the bridges, took us forever to get to you and Iggy…”</p><p>Noct looked up, frowning at that. “What? To me and Specs? Wasn’t he with you?”</p><p>Prompto hesitated, for just a second, but Noct saw it and felt his stomach twist. “We got separated...like I said, they were blowing up bridges right and left, and he was on one end and me and Gladio were on the other, and blammo!...totally unreachable. He went after you and took on, like, I swear half the imperial force on his own. It was <em>unreal</em>, Noct, we just kept finding more and more dead MTs and the Secretary said she thinks he freed the city like almost on his own, I mean he was taking out MA Pisces units and dozens of MTs, and that was before he grabbed a boat and sailed it right past the Archeon to get to you and…”</p><p>“Hold up,” Noct managed, finally gathering his thoughts enough to speak. The Archeon? What the hell..? But none of that mattered, not compared to the way more pressing question. “Where is he? Now? He’s okay, right?”</p><p>Prompto’s hesitation was answer enough to make a cold chill run up Noct’s spine. “He’s...alive. And the doc thinks he’ll come around soon…”</p><p>“<em>Shit</em>,” Noct breathed, throat closing down on him, the black abyss that’d opened when he’d heard his father was dead opening again and threatening to swallow him. No. <em>No</em>, dammit, Ignis needed him. He swallowed, hard, and pushed the blankets off, hauling his legs over the side of the bed. “Where is he? I have to...there’s got to be something I can do.”</p><p>“Hey, hey, I’m not supposed to let you out of bed…” Prompto closed his mouth when Noct glared at him. “His room’s close, Gladio’s with him. He’s...we’re not sure what happened, we found him next to you, but he’s got...got some burns and potions aren’t touching them and...shit, seriously, Noct, I don’t think you should be getting up…”</p><p>Noct, who’d tried to push himself to his feet and fallen back when his left knee buckled, privately had to admit Prompto was probably right. He was in stasis, without even a wisp of his usual magic to help steady his limbs, and the assist suit he’d been wearing to brace his back and legs was missing. He had a vague memory of it breaking in his fight against the Hydrean, before Luna’s magic had enveloped him. Considering that he was in his fatigue pants and skull t shirt now, when he’d been wearing jeans and a white shirt during the fight, he had to assume whoever had changed his clothes had discarded it.</p><p>But he wasn’t about to let that stop him. “Then I won’t get <em>up</em>,” he gritted, reaching into the Armiger and pulling his wheelchair out of it, even that small exercise of his power leaving him breathless. He let the chair drop with a soft thump onto the carpet. And to think he’d told Ignis there was no need to bring the damn thing. Fine. He’d let Ignis tell him he’d told him so a thousand times, now. “But I’m going. Are you gonna help or just watch?”</p><p>“You’re gonna drag yourself if I don’t, aren’t you?” Prompto groaned aloud, but shifted the chair to the side of the bed, engaging the brakes and holding his arm out to Noct so he could lean on it to help transfer himself over when he nodded. “Gladio is gonna <em>kill</em> me. You know that, right? He’s gonna carve me into a thousand pieces and yell at each and every one of them.”</p><p>“I think you’ll survive,” Noct returned, getting himself settled. Prompto and Gladio had a point, he probably shouldn’t be up, yet, but dammit...he was not lying in bed when Ignis was hurt. “Just blame it on me.”</p><p>“Yeah, like that’ll work,” Prompto sighed. “It’s gonna be one long lecture, all full of ‘Prompto, you know you can’t…’”</p><p>Noct tuned out Prompto’s complaining as he rolled himself to the door. For his part, Prompto followed and opened it with no further actual protest, though he kept up a steady stream of predictions as to the myriad of ways Gladio was going to dismember and lecture him while they went.</p><p>Thankfully Ignis’s room proved to be in part of the same suite as Noct’s--he thought they must be in the Secretary’s estate and made a distant mental note to thank her, later--and though his arms were burning by the time they arrived, he made it without needing to ask Prompto for a push. </p><p>Prompto pushing the door open was met with Gladio’s voice, and Noct kept his head down, not wanting to see whatever disapproving look Gladio was no doubt giving him. It didn’t matter, nothing mattered but getting to Ignis’s side.</p><p>“Prompto, what the hell...Noct, what the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Gladio’s legs appeared in Noct’s field of vision, effectively blocking the way to the bed, and Noct huffed a frustrated breath.</p><p>“I tried, I swear,” Prompto piped up, actually sounding as if he meant it. “But he asked where Iggy was, and…”</p><p>“And you couldn’t keep your damn mouth shut,” Gladio cut him off. He sank into a crouch, meeting Noct’s eyes, his own exhausted and a little haunted. Noct immediately felt guilty--Gladio’s entire job was to keep him safe, and he sure as hell hadn’t been making it easy for him lately. “Anything I say gonna get you to go rest?”</p><p>Noct shook his head. Guilty he might be, but he wasn’t gonna lie, either. “No, sorry. How is he?”</p><p>Gladio let out a long sigh, standing up and moving out of the way, letting Noct push himself the last few feet to the bed. “Hurt,” was his succinct reply. “Doc ain’t sure how bad, and there’s no hospital staff or anything left in the city to be sure--but as far as he could tell he’s stable, for now.”</p><p>Noct steeled himself, and rolled closer, raising his eyes to Ignis’s face. He hissed, softly, taking in the large bandage over Ignis’s left eye, the scattered, partly healed cuts across his nose, his right eyebrow, his bottom lip. His hair was limp, pushed to one side away from his injuries, and though he was unconscious, his breathing was shallow, not the deep, even breathing of true sleep. Noct swallowed, hard, reaching out to take Ignis’s right hand in both his own. “Shit, Specs, what did you do to yourself?”</p><p>“Guess you don’t know, either, then, huh?” Gladio asked with a grunt. “We were hoping you might’ve caught sight of what went down...by the time we got there he was too out of it, babbling apologies to you and in too much pain to answer anything. He passed out on the way back here.”</p><p>Noct swallowed again, shaking his head. “I...no,” he admitted, straining his memory back, but finding nothing. Why would Ignis have been apologizing to him? “I blacked out as soon as the Hydrean went down, I don’t...I didn’t see him. Prompto...Prompto said potions aren’t doing anything?”</p><p>Gladio nodded grimly. “Potions, elixirs, you name it. We tried everything we’ve got, gonna have to seriously restock before we risk another fight. He had a few other cuts and bruises they took care of, got a start on the ones on his face, but they didn’t touch the burns. Unless you can whip up something new…”</p><p>“I couldn’t enchant a damn thing right now,” Noct admitted reluctantly. “It’s gonna take me a couple of days rest, at least, before I could even try. And if they already didn’t work…” Which didn’t make any <em>sense</em>. His potions and elixirs had cured all of them of worse than a few burns...why wouldn’t they do the same for Ignis?</p><p>“Well, without any potions, and without the Oracle’s healing powers, we’re gonna have to rely on modern medicine,” Gladio said, sinking back down into the chair he’d been sitting in when they arrived. “Doc said he doesn’t seem to be in any danger, he’s just not waking up and he looks like someone took a torch to his face. I ain’t even sure how he’d get a burn like that, but he didn’t leave anything alive to tell us, either, so…”</p><p>Noct snorted softly. “Prompto said he’d taken down half the Niffs on his own.”</p><p>“At least,” Gladio confirmed, sounding proud. Noct didn’t blame him, Ignis had worked his ass off to become as good a fighter as he was. Better than Noct, that was for sure. “They started losing ground all over the city and called a retreat, and it sure as hell wasn’t because of us. We took out a few, but he had whole areas cleared almost as soon as the Imps landed.”</p><p>“They should’ve known better than to piss him off,” Prompto offered from the other side of the bed. </p><p>“Damn right,” Gladio said. “Oh, you know that bastard who killed Jared?”</p><p>“Yeah?”</p><p>“Yeah, he’s dead, too. Looks like Iggy took out his mech on his way. I’m guessing he’ll have one hell of a story to tell, when he wakes up.”</p><p>“Assuming we can get him to tell it.” Noct swallowed, willing Ignis to wake up, to prove he was okay. “He doesn’t like being the center of attention.”</p><p>“Didn’t stop him yelling at everyone yesterday.” Prompto, apparently satisfied that Gladio wasn’t going to kill him, had settled back in his chair and put his feet up on Ignis’s bed. “Up to and including the Secretary. I swear, Noct, you could weaponize him…”</p><p>“How do you think I’ve stayed out of trouble so long?” Noct asked, blinking hard as his eyes began to sting. “Guys...can I...can I get a minute? Go...go grab the doctor, if you can, i want to talk to him…”</p><p>It was a thin excuse and Noct was fairly sure they both knew it, but thankfully neither Gladio or Prompto protested. Gladio just waved his phone at Noct and made him promise to call immediately if he needed anything, before ushering Prompto out of the room and shutting the door behind them.</p><p>Noct managed to wait until they were gone before letting his tears spill over, raising a shaking hand to gently push Ignis’s hair back from his forehead. The soft strands slipped through his fingers and he choked back a sob. “<em>Dammit</em>, Specs, you aren’t supposed to do this to me,” he managed, blinking as more tears begin to slide down his cheeks. Fuck. It’d been bad enough, the first time Ignis had used a Phoenix Down in a fight...Noct had nearly had a panic attack, after, and had started to watch himself even more carefully, suddenly fully aware of just how much it sucked seeing someone fall. But this…</p><p>Noct had gotten careless. He must have. They’d relied too much on curatives, he’d started to feel like they were invincible. Even in the hardest fights they’d had, everyone had made it out with only a few scratches. Gladio had come back from his mythical adventure with a few new scars, sure, but he’d come back. And Noct knew that other people hadn’t been so lucky, he knew it intimately, but...he’d never let himself contemplate this.</p><p>“You can’t take him from me,” he whispered, fingers tightening over Ignis’s hand as he threw the plea out to the Astrals, grasping desperately for the magic he knew he couldn’t reach. “You can’t. I’ll undertake your trials, I’ll fight your battle, I’ll do what you ask of me...but you can’t take him from me. I can’t do this without him. Whatever it is you have planned, whatever destiny it is I’m supposed to fulfill...I can’t do it without him. If I’m your Chosen, then so is he. Please...if you’re listening, <em>please</em>…”</p><p>Noct wasn’t sure what he expected; nothing answered. The only sounds were of the birds outside, fighting over some piece of rubbish or another, the endless splash of water against the canal walls, and Ignis’s soft, pained breathing.</p><p>Noct wasn’t sure how long he sat there, hunched over Ignis’s hand, but after a time he felt a wet nose brush against his arm and looked down to see Umbra sitting beside him. “Hey, boy,” he murmured, wiping the tears from his face and forcing himself to straighten up. Crackling pain shot through his back in protest and he bit off a moan. “Yeah, guess I shouldn’t’ve been leaning over like that for so long, huh?”</p><p>He sighed, when Umbra wagged his tail, before jumping up on the bed and curling up at Ignis’s feet. Noct considered shooing him away, but decided a messenger from the gods probably wasn’t going to cause any issues in a sick room. Luna’d taken Pryna with her when she went healing, hadn’t she?</p><p>He pushed the thought away, shifting his chair to a more comfortable spot, and took Ignis’s hand again, looking carefully at him. What had he done, to get himself in this state? What could possibly injure him in a way that potions couldn’t heal? The only thing Noct knew that their curatives hadn’t been able to help, besides his own old wounds, had been his dad’s failing health, but that’d been because the magic of the crystal had caused it...</p><p>Noct stiffened, then, a thought occurring to him. Surely Ignis wouldn’t have…</p><p>He reached into the Armiger, and let out a soft, choked cry as the Ring of the Lucii materialized in his hand. <em>Shit. Oh </em>shit <em>no, he wouldn’t have…</em></p><p><em>To save you? Are you </em>sure<em>?</em></p><p>And no, Noct had to admit, he <em>wasn’t</em>. It would’ve been stupid, foolhardy, a ridiculous thing to try and do...but he knew better than anyone else just how reckless Ignis could be, when given the chance. Others looked at him now and saw the bespoke suits and clipped accent and glasses and saw an uptight nerd, someone who would no sooner break a rule than wrestle in the mud.</p><p>Noct had seen him do both, and more than once. The two of them had been terrors, growing up, getting into immense amounts of trouble, which Ignis always tried to talk them out of, making insanely convoluted arguments that had, often as not, actually <em>worked</em>. He’d been willing to break any number of rules to smuggle Noct outside the Citadel on any number of occasions--and Noct didn’t think even the rules of the Astrals would stop him, not if Ignis thought it was necessary.</p><p>But if he’d put on the Ring...Gods. Then it was amazing he was breathing at all.</p><p>Noct slipped the Ring back into the Armiger, not wanting to even think about putting it on himself, yet, about confronting the voices of all his ancestors. Not at this moment, in this mood, not with Ignis lying here before him. Later. Later, he’d be a king.</p><p>Right now, he gently released Ignis’s right hand and carefully moved to find his left, turning back the covers to expose it. And...yes. There, on the middle finger of his left hand, was another bandage. Noct didn’t have to remove it to guess what lay beneath it--another burn, in the shape of the Ring. Punishment for wearing it, for attempting to use the power of the Lucii as one not of Royal Blood.</p><p>What could possibly have been worth it? Noct wondered. He knew of only a few people in history who had tried to wear the Ring--it hadn’t ended well for any of them. Hell, if rumors were true, it’d cost Ravus his sword arm, and Noct knew others had died. What would it have cost Ignis?</p><p>Why would he have risked it? Didn’t he know what losing him would’ve done to Noct?</p><p>
  <em>Even if he did, he still would’ve died for you. They all would. Just like your father, just like Luna almost did. They’ll all die for you, so you can complete your destiny. Better be worth it, Noct.</em>
</p><p>Noct shook away the thoughts, biting his lip as he tried to ignore them. Yeah, okay, he knew that. But Ignis...Ignis needed to know he wasn’t an acceptable casualty. Not to Noct. If he...<em>when</em> he woke up, Noct would have to make sure of it. Because this couldn’t happen again. He couldn’t find himself at Ignis’s bedside again.</p><p>He just couldn’t.</p><p>***</p><p>Besides admonishing Noct that he, too, needed rest, the doctor didn’t really have much to say when Gladio and Prompto returned with him. He assured Noct that Ignis’s burns seemed to be healing well, that it was entirely possible the pain medication he’d administered was what was keeping Ignis unconscious, in which case it was better to let him rest as long as his body would let him, and that they’d have to be patient.</p><p>It wasn’t what Noct wanted to hear, but it wasn’t as bad as he’d feared. He thanked the man, made sure to ask that his thanks be relayed to the Secretary as well, and let Gladio see him out. </p><p>“You satisfied now, Princess?” Gladio asked, when he returned, crossing his arms as he glared down at Noct.</p><p>“Yeah, I guess so,” Noct agreed. “But I’m not leaving.”</p><p>“For the love of Shiva…” Gladio groaned again, but crossed to the other bed in the room and pulled the blankets back. “Fine. Take my bed, but just get yourself some damn rest, will you?”</p><p>Noct almost refused, but a look into Gladio’s eyes quelled his protest. As he’d noticed before, his Shield had been through a lot in the last couple of days...and Noct risking his health wasn’t helping.</p><p>Besides, he could watch Ignis from the next bed almost as well as from beside it--and the others would have to go to bed sometime, themselves. He could sit up with him, later.</p><p>“Okay, okay,” he acquiesced, rolling himself over to the bed and hauling himself into it. He wasn’t about to admit it to Gladio, but he could feel himself relaxing as he leaned back against the soft pillows. “Happy?”</p><p>“I’m getting there,” Gladio replied, glancing over at Ignis. “The doc wasn’t kidding about those meds...he’s gonna be out for a while. Get some rest, Noct. Or you can explain to him why you’re not taking care of yourself.”</p><p>“That’s hitting below the belt,” Noct grumbled, but arranged himself more comfortably in bed, tugging the blankets up. He wasn’t about to have that argument with an injured Ignis. “Just...if he wakes up, make sure someone’s…”</p><p>“He won’t wake up alone,” Gladio promised, leaning down to squeeze Noct’s shoulder lightly. </p><p>“Thanks,” Noct whispered, swallowing hard. He <em>wanted </em>to crawl into bed with Ignis, as he had when they were small, press tight against him and feel his chest rise and fall, reassure himself that Ignis was alive, was okay, was still with him. But that’d be a hard one to explain or justify here, when they had separate beds and plenty of room. Sure, he’d done it a time or two in the tent, after a hard fight, but that was more easily brushed off.</p><p>This...no. There was no way.</p><p>Instead, Noct spent a few moments adjusting the pillows around himself, pulling a couple more out from the Armiger to build the perfect resting place for his aching back, before letting himself slowly relax. Gladio and Prompto were talking, quietly, their voices a familiar, comforting murmur. Noct let it wash over him as he watched Ignis, watched his chest rise and fall.</p><p>
  <em>Please….please let him be okay. Please let him wake up and be okay…</em>
</p><p>But Ignis stayed asleep, unchanged. Noct dozed for a bit himself, waking only when Prompto shook his shoulder and apologetically offered him food. Noct ate without complaining, though the fish was dry and the veggies with it limp and overcooked. He didn’t even put up a protest at eating them, just forced them down, grimacing at the taste and texture. But the old game of trying to avoid them wasn’t the same without Ignis’s long suffering sighs.</p><p>After eating, he lay back down, letting his exhaustion pull him under, into a deep sleep.</p><p>***</p><p>The soft sound of whimpering woke Noct, some indeterminable time later, and he pushed himself up onto one elbow, squinting against the darkness of the room. Soft light filtered into the window from the street lights outside, and the shapes gradually resolved into something recognizable, memory coming with them.</p><p>Right. The Hydrean, the fight, they were at the Secretary’s estate. And Ignis…</p><p>As if in answer to the thought, Noct heard the soft whimper again, and realized it was coming from Ignis’s bed. The chair beside it was empty and Noct could very vaguely remember the sound of a door closing...probably Gladio or Prompto had gotten up to go to the bathroom.</p><p>He shook the inconsequential thought away, digging himself out from under his blankets to slide his feet over the edge of the bed and get to Ignis’s. He managed the single step between them, pulling himself up onto the mattress beside the other man. Ignis was moving, restlessly, his brow furrowed and soft noises of pain and protest escaping him.</p><p>Nightmare. Noct had had enough of his own, it was easy enough to recognize. He reached out to gently take Ignis’s shoulder and shook it. “Specs?”</p><p>Ignis gasped, half sitting up before dropping back down with a cry, his hands flailing out. Noct caught the one closest to him, taking it in both his own. “Hey, hey, easy, Specs, you’re okay...it’s okay…”</p><p>Ignis groaned again, the sound cutting through Noct like a knife. He’d so rarely seen Ignis express even the slightest discomfort in the last few years...frustration and irritation, yes, but he couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Ignis look this lost, this hurt...definitely not since they’d been kids.</p><p>And Noct’s reassurances didn’t seem to be soothing him much. Ignis’s fingers tightened almost painfully around his own, his other hand fumbling against Noct’s arm, his side. “Noct?” he rasped, his voice thick and almost unrecognizable before a harsh cough escaped him.</p><p>“Hey, hey, don’t hurt yourself.” Noct tried to gently ease Ignis back down onto the bed, feeling sudden empathy for Prompto trying to do the same to him, the day before. “I’m fine, promise.”</p><p>Ignis turned his face blindly toward the sound of Noct’s voice, but his unbandaged eye remained closed and Noct couldn’t tell if he was awake or still caught in his dreams. He bit his lip, wishing suddenly that one of the others were here to tell him what to <em>do</em>, how to handle this. He was pretty sure he was gonna mess it up...but Ignis would try for him. “Specs, Ignis, wake up, it’s okay…”</p><p>At last Ignis seemed to hear him, his rigid form slowly relaxing back against the pillows, his fingers loosening their death grip on Noct’s as his other hand slid up Noct’s arm and finally cupped his cheek. “You’re alive,” he whispered, voice still rough, but no longer with that edge of fear.</p><p>“Yeah,” Noct whispered, leaning into Ignis’s touch before he could stop himself. It was more intimate than he would’ve expected, but...fuck. They’d been through hell.</p><p>“And Lady Lunafreya?” Ignis asked, his brow furrowing slightly.</p><p>“She’s safe,” Noct replied, frowning. Ignis still hadn’t opened his eye...and there were lines of pain carved deeply into his face. “I’m more worried about you right now, Specs. You look like shit.”</p><p>“I’ll have to take your word for it,” Ignis replied, his tone much too carefully light. Noct’s frown deepened. “But surely you should be resting?”</p><p>“I am,” Noct replied, reaching out very gently to take Ignis’s chin in his hand. Ignis flinched the moment Noct’s fingers touched him, then held very still. “Ignis…”</p><p>“Don’t, Noct,” Ignis cut him off, his voice nearly breaking as he pulled away from Noct’s touch, turning his head to the side. “It’s...a small sacrifice, all things considered.”</p><p>A sacrifice. Dammit. He <em>had</em> worn the Ring, and this was the price. Noct bit back his immediate urge to curse, to yell, to lash out. Ignis was suffering enough, he didn’t need Noct telling him he’d been an idiot. “What could <em>possibly </em>have been worth it?” he managed, hating how his voice shook.</p><p>“I’d have given up a great deal more than my eyesight to protect you,” Ignis said, softly, confirming Noct’s suspicions and worst fears.</p><p>And the hell of it was, he knew it was true. He knew it was true of Gladio and Prompto, too, of Cor, of probably all the Crownsguard. Hell, Luna had almost died for him, his father <em>had</em>. How many more people he loved would end up hurt or dead, because of <em>him</em>?</p><p>And why had Ignis had to be among them?</p><p>“You’re taking this ‘protect the chosen king’ thing too far, Specs,” he said, wincing at the bitterness in his own voice.</p><p>“No,” Ignis cut him off, pushing himself up on his elbow, his voice suddenly stronger as he turned his scarred face to Noct’s. “Not ‘the Chosen King’. To bloody fucking <em>hell </em>with the chosen king and the prophecy. I didn’t do it for them. I didn't do it for the King of Light, Noct, I did it for <em>you</em>.”</p><p>“I…” Noct bit his lip, hard, not at all sure how to respond. Fuck. He wasn’t <em>good </em>at this kind of shit, he had no idea how to handle the evidence of how his friends actually felt about him. Dammit, Cid had hit that one on the head, and now he had evidence of it right in front of him…</p><p>Ignis fell back onto the bed, raising a hand to his forehead, wincing when his fingers brushed over half healed cuts and the bandages over his eye. “Apologies,” he murmured. “I overstepped my bounds, I know.”</p><p>“No…” Noct cleared his throat, and tried again. Shit, Ignis had always known what he was thinking, just by looking at him, but now...dammit. He was going to have to actually try and talk, to <em>say</em> the things he’d never been able to. “No, you...you don’t owe me any apologies, Specs. Sounds like...it sounds like you saved my ass. Again.”</p><p>“Perhaps,” Ignis murmured, but Noct saw his lips twitch, slightly. It wasn’t a smile, but it was something. “What...what’s the time?”</p><p>Noct blinked, realizing he didn’t know, and glanced over at the bedside table. “Uh...three thirty. In the morning.”</p><p>“Ah.” Ignis fell silent for a moment, before letting out a soft sigh. “The others? Are they well?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Noct assured him, shifting himself to stretch out beside Ignis, resting his back against the headboard. He found himself wanting to pick Ignis’s hand back up, to hold it in his own, but now that the other man was awake it didn’t feel appropriate. “Yeah, they’re doing better than both of us.”</p><p>“Both? Noct, are you hurt?”</p><p>Noct cursed under his breath. “No, not really. Just...drained. I’ll be fine in a couple days.”</p><p>Ignis subsided, resting back against the pillows, lightly rubbing his forehead with one hand. Noct frowned and grabbed his phone off the bedside table, quickly tapping out a text to Gladio. </p><p>
  <em>Specs is awake and hurting. Doc leave anything for him?</em>
</p><p>The reply came quickly enough. <em>Top drawer, two pills every four to six hours. Need me?</em></p><p>
  <em>I got it. Thanks.</em>
</p><p>“Gladio? Or Prompto?” Ignis asked, quietly, as Noct sent his reply.</p><p>“Gladio,” Noct said, deciding there was no point in denying it. “He says you’ve got pain meds if you need them.”</p><p>Ignis hesitated a moment and Noct heard the soft sound of him swallowing, before he sighed. “Please. I imagine there’s been a doctor of some sort involved?”</p><p>“Yeah, he’s been by a few times,” Noct replied as he found the bottle of pills. He shook two free into his hand and pulled a bottle of water from the Armiger. “You need a hand?”</p><p>“Would you believe me if I refused?” Ignis asked dryly.</p><p>“No.”</p><p>“Then by all means.”</p><p>Noct smiled, shifting over to gently help Ignis sit up enough to take the pills. He put them in Ignis’s hand, waited until Ignis had transferred them to his mouth and held his hand out again, and then gave him the opened bottle. Ignis drained it, then relaxed back, half on the pillows, half against Noct’s chest. “My thanks,” he murmured. “So what has this doctor had to say?”</p><p>“He doesn’t trust my potions, for one thing,” Noct replied, hoping Ignis wouldn’t move away. There was something <em>very</em> reassuring about having the other man pressed against him, a warm, heavy, <em>live </em>weight. “But that’s probably because they didn’t touch your burns.”</p><p>“I suppose they wouldn’t, at that,” Ignis sighed. “I wasn’t in much of a position to judge their extent…”</p><p>“There’s a patch around your left eye,” Noct said, wondering if Ignis would mind if he stroked his hair. Probably. He’d liked it, when they were kids, but that’d been so long ago… “And another on your left hand. You’ve also got a few cuts on your face that are probably going to scar. They’re way more flattering than Gladio’s, though.”</p><p>Ignis snorted softly. “I’m almost grateful I won’t be able to verify that. Though I suppose my eyesight might return as I heal…”</p><p>“It might,” Noct said, hoping it would. “The doc didn’t say anything about it, but we’re not exactly in a hospital.”</p><p>“Where are we, then?”</p><p>“Oh, shit, yeah.” Noct shook his head at himself. “Sorry. We’re at Secretary Claustra’s estate. You’ve been out of it for a day and a half or so? I just woke up yesterday afternoon. Gladio said they’d start letting people back into the city some time tomorrow, but a lot of it’s apparently pretty wrecked. So the hospital’s empty, right now.”</p><p>“The damage was fairly extensive,” Ignis said, shifting himself slightly. But not away from Noct, no, in fact he moved a bit closer, resting his head against Noct’s shoulder now. “It will take them a great deal of time to rebuild, I’m afraid. The Imperials were not kind to the architecture.”</p><p>“They never are,” Noct said, daring to raise his hand and brush Ignis’s hair back from his brow. When Ignis didn’t protest, he ran his fingers through it again. “Anyway. Your burns are healing well, and Gladio said some of your wounds <em>did</em> respond to potions, so you should be feeling better soon.”</p><p>“And you?”</p><p>Noct rolled his eyes. “I’m <em>fine</em>, Ignis. Stop trying to change the subject.”</p><p>“This subject is simply looking out for his Highness’s welfare,” Ignis returned, sighing softly and pressing his head in against Noct’s fingers as they continued to card through his hair. “You were...quite still, when last I saw you.”</p><p>Noct swallowed at the double meaning in those words. “I’m okay,” he said, more gently. “Promise. In stasis for a couple days, and you can say you told me so about bringing the chair, but I’m fine. Just...not eager for a repeat performance.”</p><p>“By all accounts the Glacian was more kindly disposed toward humans,” Ignis said, his voice steady even as his hand fumbled for and found Noct’s, squeezing it tightly. “Seeking her blessing should be, Astrals willing, less of an ordeal for all of us.”</p><p>Noct swallowed hard, linking his fingers with Ignis’s. He knew he should try to talk Ignis into staying behind, where he’d be safe. Should talk to the Secretary about arranging transport for him back to Caem, where he could stay with Iris and Talcott, could heal and--if his eyesight didn’t return--adjust to being blinded. It really was too much of a risk to bring Ignis with him into more danger, when he would be a liability in a fight, when someone would have to watch over him.</p><p>But Noct couldn’t bring himself to say it. Even if he hadn’t wanted Ignis with him for himself--how could he possibly tell his friend, his advisor, this man who had given up so much, that he couldn’t see it through to the end? Let him think Noct didn’t want or need him along?</p><p>No. He couldn’t do it. Hopefully Ignis was right, and his eyesight would return as the burns healed. Noct would just have to let himself believe it...because the alternative was unthinkable.</p><p>“Astrals willing,” he agreed, softly, realizing as he did that Ignis had already slipped off to sleep once more.</p><p>Well. Noct wasn’t about to wake him by moving back to his own bed. And if that meant he’d get his wish of earlier in the day, to stay pressed tightly against Ignis and know he was safe, so much the better.</p><p>***</p><p>For a dark, indeterminable time after the Ring of the Lucii slipped off his finger, all Ignis had known was pain. He’d hung on to hear Ravus’s reassurance that Noct lived, had heard Gladio and Prompto’s calls, but after that things blurred into a haze of uncertain anguish.</p><p>He tried to push past it, to force himself to concentrate, to <em>think</em>, but all his reserves, his will, seemed spent. No matter how he fought against the darkness reaching up for him, he couldn’t escape it and it dragged him down, down into its tempting embrace.</p><p>Still, he managed brief moments of what might have been consciousness, now and again. He felt himself lowered to a soft surface, heard Gladio and Prompto’s voices. Through the muffling misery, he felt their hands wrapping his own around the familiar shape of an elixir, but the breaking of the vial brought no answering relief. Nor did the ones that followed, and their voices rose again, until he could focus on them no more.</p><p>Later still he roused again, to feel someone touch his face, fingers smoothing something over the skin around his eyes. He tried to pull away as aches burst forth into new agony, but though he meant to protest, all he managed was a wordless cry that turned all too quickly to a coughing fit that left him breathless and too worn to resist.</p><p>And then there’d been a prick of pain against his arm, a soft burn through his muscles--and blessed numbness had spread through him in its wake, bringing with it the dark emptiness of sleep.</p><p>With sleep, however, came dreams. Though part of Ignis knew he’d succeeded, that Noct lived, nightmares rose to convince him he’d been too late, too weak. That all his effort had been for naught, the desperate dash across Altissa ending in failure, in Ardyn’s knife across Noct’s throat, his blood spilling and mixing with the rain.</p><p>But then, even as he'd cried out, fought against it, he'd been woken by Noct's touch, Noct's voice. The pain had still been with him, burning over his skin, through his chest, but he'd nearly forgotten it in the relief of knowing he'd succeeded. Noct was alive, was whole... Ignis's sacrifice hadn't been in vain.</p><p>All too soon the pain had overwhelmed him again, and he'd retreated once more to sleep and the respite it provided. But this time, with Noctis pressed against him, he didn't dream.</p><p>***</p><p>Ignis woke slowly, growing discomfort gradually pulling him from sleep and rest over the course of time. He became aware of himself as he tried to catalog the various aches and pains. There sharp, brilliant spots of pain in his left hand and around his left eye, combined with a worrying numbness further in. Then smaller, still bright spots across his face as he moved it experimentally. But it was the deep internal <em>ache</em> through his chest and radiating out through his limbs that had him regretfully hoping another dose of medication might be available. He felt a hair’s breadth from coughing and was certain it would <em>hurt</em>.</p><p>Instead he let a slow, careful breath, shifting his weight slightly. And found that he was not alone in his bed--there was a soft warm weight pressed to his right side, and he thought he recognized the smell of Noct’s shampoo. Had he truly stayed by Ignis’s side all night?</p><p>Ignis lifted his hand, thinking to check--Noct’s hair should be easy enough to identify by touch--when Gladio’s voice rang out in the still room.</p><p>“Awake, huh?”</p><p>Ignis started, then winced when the motion set off a cascade of complaints through his entire body. <em>Astrals, I’m a bloody mess…</em></p><p>“Shit, sorry, thought you knew I was here.” Gladio, to his credit, <em>sounded</em> regretful, and Ignis waved away the apology with his lifted hand, before letting it drop back to the coverlet.</p><p>“It’s fine,” he managed, pleased when his voice sounded close to itself. He should’ve noticed the sounds of someone else in the room, but for a big man, Gladio could be distressingly silent. “I…” he trailed off, realizing he had no idea what to say next. How to explain himself, his predicament. Ignis had spent years trying to work up to a standard where Gladio would trust him with Noct’s safety, and now…</p><p>“Still.” He heard Gladio shift in his chair and when he spoke again his voice was closer. “You’re due for some pain meds, if you need ‘em. And I can move Sleeping Beauty back to his own bed, if he’s making things worse.”</p><p>“Ah...the pills, yes,” Ignis said, after just a moment’s hesitation. He didn’t really want the muzzy feeling they’d bring, but the relief was too tempting. “But there’s no need to...let him sleep. He needs the rest.”</p><p>Gladio snorted, softly, and for a moment Ignis was glad he <em>couldn’t</em> see whatever look he was being given. He could easily imagine, Gladio had a thousand to choose from when he thought Ignis was being too soft on Noct--or letting his feelings for the prince run away with him. “Don’t think it’d be enough to wake him, but fine. Here.”</p><p>Ignis bit his bottom lip--then winced, as his teeth scraped against a half healed cut. “I...may need your assistance,” he admitted stiffly. Bollocks. How was he going to prove he could still keep up with them if he couldn’t even sit up and take a dose of medicine on his own?</p><p>“No sweat.” Gladio lifted Ignis’s hand and placed two pills in it, then replaced them with a glass when he put them in his mouth. Ignis swallowed them down, handing the cup back. “Guessing you’re not keeping your eye closed ‘cause it’s too bright in here, then, huh?” </p><p>“No.” Ignis tried--again--to open his right eye, but nothing seemed to change, besides a few stabs of pain. “Is the left even still there?”</p><p>“You’ll have to ask the doc, I didn’t get that much detail,” Gladio said, thoughtfully. Ignis thought he was sitting back in his chair--he could hear the creaking of wood and his voice was slightly further away. “You wanna explain what happened?”</p><p>“I got to Noct, and ensured his safety until help could arrive,” Ignis replied, hoping his tone clearly indicated it was all he intended to say on the matter. If he remembered the previous evening correctly, Noct had likely figured out the details of what had happened, but Ignis wasn’t eager for anyone else to discover them. He’d taken the only avenue open to him at the time, but he had the feeling that Gladio, in particular, might not see it that way. He was bound too tightly to the duty to which he’d been born. Though Ignis knew he cared for Noct, his place as a shield made him loyal to the throne first, the person second. He would, Ignis knew, never dare to wear the Ring.</p><p>“Yeah, okay, little light on details there, Iggy,” Gladio snorted. “You forgot the part where you took the fucking Imperial army on single handed. And where you tossed your comm and left us thinking we’d lost you.”</p><p>“Apologies,” Ignis winced. He shouldn’t have left them wondering, no, but it had seemed an obvious choice at the time. “There was little time, and…”</p><p>“And you had to get to Noct,” Gladio interrupted him, before Ignis could tell him the communicator had shorted out. “Shit, Iggy, that’s the same damn thing we were trying to do. If you’d kept us updated, we coulda gotten there faster, we coulda <em>helped</em>. And then maybe you wouldn’t be lying there, all…”</p><p>“Blind?” Ignis asked icily, when Gladio trailed off. “Like I told Noct, it’s a small price to pay for his life.”</p><p>“You expect me to believe that’s how you feel about it?” Gladio shot back. “Fuck that, Iggy, I <em>know</em> you. You fucking wear glasses you barely need to see things more clearly, and you’re telling me you’re okay with this? Bullshit.”</p><p>Ignis swallowed, hard, wishing he felt more himself, that he’d had more time to <em>think</em>, that Noct wasn’t still pressed against his side, sleep warmed and heavy and liable to <em>wake up</em> if he screamed back at Gladio the way a part of him desperately wished to. “I would trade the world for his safety,” he said, instead, fighting to keep his voice soft, even, reasonable. To not think of what Pryna had shown him, the vision of an older Noct on his throne, pierced by the Royal Arms. Not now. “I will adapt.”</p><p>“Yeah? Guess you can start by learning to fucking ask for help when you need it, instead of running off on your own,” Gladio returned. “You wanna keep Noct safe? Start by not trying to get yourself killed.”</p><p>“I...will take that under advisement,” Ignis said, biting off his urge to retort, to needle Gladio back and perhaps let off some steam fighting with him. It wouldn’t accomplish anything, truly, and...dammit. He was right, in this at least. Noct has obviously taken Ignis’s injury hard.</p><p>“It’s a start.” Gladio fell silent for a moment and Ignis let himself relax back into the pillows, willing the pills he’d taken to take effect and ease the pounding in his head. "You scared us shitless, you know?"</p><p>“That was hardly my intent,” Ignis said shortly. “And the comm shorted out; I didn’t abandon it in a fit of pique.”</p><p>“Fair enough.” Gladio fell silent again, though Ignis could feel the weight of his gaze. “You and Noct talk much? Last night?”</p><p>“A bit, I think,” Ignis said, thinking back on it. He’d been in pain, mind distracted by the dreams in which he’d been lost, and knew he’d been more comforted by Noct’s presence than his exact words. They’d need to talk, and likely at length when Noct was awake and Ignis free of the influence of painkillers. But that might be some time. “Why?”</p><p>“Wasn’t sure how much he told you,” Gladio said. “We didn’t find any trace of Lady Lunafreya, but he says she’s safe. The Empire retreated, Secretary’s letting us stay here to recover. Cid got the boat out of the way in time, she’s still in perfect shape.”</p><p>“Good, that will make travel to Gralea that much easier,” Ignis said absently, turning over the image of Lunafreya disappearing in a swirl of golden light in his head. Had he dreamed it? He didn’t think so, Ravus’s reaction had been real enough. But then she hadn’t looked dead to Ignis, and he knew the Oracle had powers not unlike Noct’s...could she have managed some kind of warp of her own?</p><p>He shivered, suddenly remembering the feel of it, his own body sliding through space, the power as he’d blinked from one spot to another. It’d been ridiculously intense, almost painful, almost pleasurable, like being full of living fire. A living fire his body was not built to contain, he thought ruefully. No wonder he felt scorched from the inside out.</p><p>“Yeah, guess it will,” Gladio said, and Ignis pulled his mind back to the conversation with an effort. Dammit. He usually didn’t have nearly so hard a time concentrating. “We can make time for a stop at Caem, first, though.”</p><p>“You’ve a hankering to visit your sister?” Ignis asked flatly. So. That’s where this was going. He shouldn’t be surprised, he supposed, but he could hope it wasn’t Noct’s idea.</p><p>“Ignis…”</p><p>“No, Gladio,” Ignis cut him off, not wanting to hear it. “There’s no reason to think my eyesight won’t return as the wounds heal.” A flat out lie, but Ignis had trained more than half his life to be a diplomat, he could tell it convincingly, even to someone who knew him as well as Gladio did. “The trip to Gralea will take many weeks and Noct must recover his strength enough to travel before we even set off. Plenty of time.”</p><p>“Hmph.” Gladio didn’t sound convinced, but Ignis didn’t much care. </p><p>Besides, it’d be Noct’s decision, ultimately...and if Noct told Ignis to stay behind, he’d simply find a way to follow in any case. He had some Gil set aside, he could hire a guide if he had to. He wasn’t staying behind, not when there was any chance at all that he could be of some use, not when Noct needed to be kept safe.</p><p>“Are you hungry?” Gladio asked, after a short silence. “The food’s...not great, but I can get you some soup or something.”</p><p>Ignis’s stomach turned at the idea, but he knew he needed to eat. “Something plain shouldn’t be too much of a risk, I think,” he offered, thinking longingly of his own Quillhorn soup. The broth and some toast would probably be ideal...but he wasn’t likely to be in any position to make it for some time. “Gladio...thank you. I realize this has...complicated things.”</p><p>“Nothing’s ever simple, anyway,” Gladio said, rising from his chair. “I’ll be back soon. You need anything, wake Noct up and make him call me or something. And he's got a bed in here, so make him give you space if you need it. Got it?”</p><p>“Loud and clear,” Ignis agreed, listening as Gladio crossed the room and the door closed behind him, leaving Ignis alone with the still slumbering Noctis.</p><p>Grateful for once that Noct was such a heavy sleeper, Ignis gave into his own selfish desire to enjoy the feeling of his prince pressed so tightly against him. Noct’s head rested on his right shoulder, his body curled in against Ignis’s side, their legs lightly tangled together. Noct had always been a clingy nighttime companion; Ignis could remember waking as a child to Noct climbing into bed with him after a nightmare or some other fright, curling up close and asking if he could stay. Ignis had invariably woken with Noct wrapped around him in the mornings. And Noct hadn’t lost the habit, the close quarters in the tent and the beds they’d shared at various hotels had proven that easily enough. Ignis had woken any number of times recently with Noct all but in his arms.</p><p>He hadn’t let himself think on it, not really, but he couldn’t deny the comfort he found in it. Noct had been the center of his world for almost as long as he could remember, ever since King Regis had entrusted his son’s safety to him at the age of six. That Noct could still find some comfort in being close to him, after all these years, was a gift Ignis hadn’t wished to question.</p><p>Nor would he, now, even if he now knew there was another bed in the room, one Noct had no doubt been in the night before. But he’d left it, and come to Ignis’s...and stayed. Ignis was in no hurry to have him leave.</p><p>He did, however, relent enough to let himself reach up and run his fingers through Noct’s hair. It was soft, no trace of gel or product, and Ignis found himself wondering how it would look down. It was longer now than he’d ever seen it, having grown in the weeks since they’d left home, and Noct was forever grumbling about it. Perhaps there was a barber in Altissa they could visit before leaving…</p><p>Ignis nearly snorted to himself at the mundane and useless thought. <em>Keeping your mind obsessing over the mundane won’t work forever, you know. You’ll have to face it eventually.</em></p><p>Yes, he would. There was no denying that he found himself in darkness. That the last clear thing he’d seen had been Noct’s still face, streaked with rain, before the light of the crystal had burned away his vision. That light had somehow let him fight back against Ardyn, had let him, he was certain, almost defeat the man, he could’ve sworn he’d felt his daggers hit true...but then the power of the Light had disappeared.</p><p>And now he was left like this. What had he said, more than once, in the dungeons in which they’d found themselves? Not a good idea to throw daggers in the dark? Well. He hadn’t much choice now, had he? He’d have to learn how to do so, learn how to pinpoint an enemy's movements by sound alone.</p><p>He had little doubt he <em>could</em>, but it would take time. And time was in short supply. He would have to work, and work quickly, to recover and adapt. To learn to navigate, to fight. And, probably, to cook. If he left it up to the others, they’d be eating straight from a can--or living on Cup Noodles, if Gladio had any say.</p><p>Well. He’d never attempted to cook without looking, but he knew it was possible. He’d heard of people who had, remembered a cooking competition in Insomnia won by a blind chef. So.</p><p>He settled back, trying to think over any other anecdotes he could remember, things he’d heard in passing, of how the blind adapted to their surroundings. Wasn’t there a boy who’d learned to navigate with sound? And if not that, he was certain he could somehow obtain a cane to at least begin to help him learn to get around. Reading would be more difficult, but perhaps that could wait until after they’d finished their quest for the crystal…</p><p>He was still lost deep in thought when the door opened again, and it was Prompto’s voice that broke his concentration. “Iggy! You’re awake!”</p><p>Ignis couldn’t help the smile that spread over his face. He heartily approved of Prompto, though he knew Noct’s best friend had, at least until this trip, been incredibly intimidated by him. But Prompto was loyal, treated Noct as a person and not the prince, and never failed to bring Noct’s spirits up. He had a steadiness to him that Noct often lacked, and Ignis had been incredibly pleased when the two of them had become close. Jealous, too, he would admit that, but Noct’s happiness was much more important than Ignis's insecurities.</p><p>“I am. Are you well?”</p><p>“Yeah, I’m good,” Prompto replied, his progress through the room easily tracked as he skipped in and dropped into a chair by the bed. “Guess Noct didn’t stay in his own bed, huh?”</p><p>“Apparently not,” Ignis replied, realizing his hand was still buried in Noct’s hair. He extracted it, as surreptitiously as he could, but still Noct made a sleepy noise of protest and cuddled closer.</p><p>“Good, he’s been worried about you,” Prompto said, with none of the beating around the bush Noct himself might’ve taken. But then Prompto, Ignis knew, saw little reason to hide either his feelings or his opinions. “His room’s across the suite, but as soon as he knew you were in here he made me bring him over. Guess I should be glad he did, you both look a lot better.”</p><p>“Do we?” Ignis asked, wincing when his automatic raising of an eyebrow hurt.</p><p>“Yeah, he was all tossing and turning before, and you...kinda looked like death warmed over,” Prompto said, his voice more subdued.</p><p>“Ah,” Ignis murmured, not entirely sure what to say to that. He wondered, again, what he looked like, now. He remembered Noct saying he’d have scars, and the pain--and numbness--on his face seemed to bear that out. Oh well. He hadn’t been all that vain about anything but his hair before, and what were a few more scars? Acne and chicken pox had left him with enough of those as it was. Assuming he wasn’t bald, it didn’t matter. “I...am sorry, Prompto,” he said, after a moment. “I assure you, it wasn’t my intent to worry either you or Gladio, or to…”</p><p>“Well duh,” Prompto interrupted, sounding much more himself. “Not like you got yourself hurt on purpose, right? You were protecting Noct.”</p><p>Trust Prompto to put it so succinctly. “I was.”</p><p>“Shit happens, dude,” Prompto said and Ignis could all too easily picture him shrugging. “I never mean to need a Phoenix Down, but how many of them have I gone through? It just sucks that potions aren’t helping here.”</p><p>“It does,” Ignis agreed, a part of him feeling absurdly grateful for Prompto’s understanding. But then it made sense...Prompto hadn’t been training to fight all that long, really, before they’d left Insomnia, and he had been the least skilled of the four of them. He’d improved by leaps and bounds, since, all the fighting they’d done a crash course that’d been more effective than any practice, but he was right, he <em>had</em> used more curatives than the rest of them in the beginning, and had had the most close calls. “I imagine my eyesight will return as the wounds heal, but…”</p><p>“If it doesn’t, you’ll still be okay,” Prompto said, with such confidence that Ignis could almost believe it himself. “You’re Iggy. And I’ll help out until you do. Only fair, you’ve been keeping an eye on me for ages, right?”</p><p>Ignis chuckled softly. “I suppose I have,” he agreed. It was true--he’d helped Prompto with his homework, given him rides home, sparred with him, basically taken him in under his wing when Noct had befriended him. “I...thank you, Prompto. I’ve no desire to be a burden, but…”</p><p>“But you’re gonna need some time to heal up and figure things out,” Prompto finished for him. “And Noct’s gonna worry and Gladio’s gonna grumble and yell <em>because</em> he’s worried, so I’ll help out and you can skip their drama. For once.”</p><p>Ignis outright laughed at that, though he regretted it a moment later when it turned into a cough. A cough that turned into a fit, forcing him to pull away from Noct, pain rippling through him in waves as the coughing spasms shook his body.</p><p>In moments there were two sets of hands rubbing his back, and he distantly heard Noct’s sleep roughened voice raised in question, and Prompto’s answering. The fit passed in a few moments and Ignis drew in a shaking breath. A moment later a glass was pressed against his lips and he took a long sip, before letting himself relax back into the pillows. “Apologies.”</p><p>“You kidding?” Prompto asked. “I make you laugh until you cough and <em>you’re </em>apologizing? That doesn’t seem right to me, huh, Noct?”</p><p>“Me either.” Noct’s soft voice was close, right at his side, and a moment later Ignis’s hair was pushed gently back from his forehead. “You okay, Specs?”</p><p>“I’ll survive,” Ignis said dryly, the effect somewhat ruined by how breathless and wrecked his voice sounded, even to his own ears. “I didn’t mean to wake you…”</p><p>“I’ll survive,” Noct echoed, his fingers again brushing over Ignis’s forehead, before he pulled away. Ignis curled his fingers around themselves, resisting the urge to reach out and pull Noct back. He’d spent years pushing away his desires, he couldn’t stop now, couldn’t indulge in weakness. “You need anything?”</p><p>“Gladio is fetching food,” Ignis replied, taking slow, careful breaths, though the urge to cough had, thankfully, faded. “Otherwise the only thing I require to heal is time…”</p><p>“We got plenty of that,” Prompto offered, once again off to Ignis’s left, having apparently returned to his chair. “Noct, you hungry? I can go hunt Gladio down and make sure he brings enough back for everyone.”</p><p>“I could eat,” Noct said and Ignis felt the mattress move as Noct shifted his weight.</p><p>“Cool.” Prompto slid from his chair--Ignis heard his feet touch the floor, and the creak as he stood--and let out a groan as he presumably stretched, as well. “Iggy, I can’t promise to be less hilarious, but I’ll do my best until you’re feeling better, dude. See you guys in a bit.”</p><p>He left, the door shutting softly behind him, leaving Ignis alone with Noct.</p><p>“You really okay?” Noct asked, before Ignis could even open his mouth to inquire as to Noct’s health.</p><p>“I am,” Ignis assured him, slowly pushing himself up until he was sitting, then leaned back against the headboard. The action caused a rush of dizziness, but it soon passed. “Just sore.”</p><p>“I’m gonna tell Gladio to get that doctor back in here, anyway,” Noct said firmly. “He didn’t say anything yesterday about a cough, or about you not being able to see and I want to find out why.”</p><p>“Are you planning to give him a royal dressing down?” Ignis asked, privately amused. Noct rarely attempted to throw his rank around, usually seeming more baffled by the attention and respect it got him than appreciative. While Ignis thought he preferred that, in general, there was still something novel about hearing Noct sound almost imperious.</p><p>“If I have to,” Noct grumbled. “I just...,” he said, more softly, after a moment’s pause in which Ignis wished he could see Noct’s face.  He knew how to read Noct’s smallest expression, but now he was, quite literally, in the dark. “I don’t want you hurting,” Noct finished, at last.</p><p>Ignis swallowed, resolving to do his best to hide his pain better, to will himself to heal faster. Noct didn’t need to be distracted by him. “I know,” he said, quietly. “I’m afraid...I must ask your forgiveness. I have apologized to the others, as well, but I want you to know...it was not my intention, to...to further complicate…”</p><p>Cool fingers slid into Ignis’s own, lacing them together, and squeezed. “Shut up, Ignis,” Noct interrupted, gently. “I told you last night, you don’t have to apologize for saving my life.”</p><p>“I should have found another way,” Ignis said, feeling--to his utter horror--his throat begin to tighten with emotion. He could only hope his eyes were damaged enough to prevent the tears he otherwise knew would follow if he could not get himself under <em>control</em>. “Should have been able to come up with an alternative, that would not have...have left you vulnerable.”</p><p>“Oh Ignis…” Noct’s voice was soft, pained, but not, Ignis thought, pitying. That was at least something. “I...shit, you know I’m not good at this, but...it’s okay. I know you. If there’d been a sure fire way to get out of whatever situation you were in, you would’ve taken it. Hell, even Dad said you were the best strategist he’d ever seen...Prompto keeps going on about how you took out the whole <em>army</em>, you...you did everything you could, okay? Way, way more than one man should be expected to, way more than I ever would’ve asked, and I...I’m not gonna let you beat yourself up because you took a risk to save me. I mean, yeah, fuck, of course I wish you hadn’t had to, that I hadn’t fucking <em>needed</em> it, <em>again</em>, but...dammit, Ignis.” He heard Noct swallow, hard. “Look, it scares the shit out of me that you’d die to protect me, and of fucking <em>course </em>I wish you hadn’t had to...to be a reckless fucking hero and get yourself blinded to save my life. But I’m not gonna let you apologize for it. You didn’t do anything wrong.”</p><p>“It doesn’t seem I did much <em>right</em>,” Ignis countered, but he smiled, squeezing Noct’s hand, touched beyond measure by Noct’s words--and by the effort he knew it’d taken Noct to say them. “But you’re well...and I’ll heal as best I can.”</p><p>“And probably be scaring the shit out of me again in no time,” Noct said ruefully. The bed dipped, then, and to Ignis’s great surprise, he felt the press of soft lips against his forehead. </p><p>But before he could react, the door opened once again, Gladio’s voice announcing the arrival of their food. Ignis’s attention was taken up by sipping broth--thoughtfully provided in a mug, he had no clue how he’d manage a spoon, just now--and he filed that kiss away to think on later.</p><p>Until then, he listened to the others banter, their voices filled with the relief of yet another fight survived. Not unscathed, not this time, but they’d all lived.</p><p>And perhaps, if he could but convince Noct, the vision Pryna had given him need not come to pass.</p><p>***</p>
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